F-35 STOVL:::::::::

[Dan4th]

From yesterday.......

Nothing dramatic, just a ferry flight.

The third Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II short takeoff/vertical landing test aircraft takes off from Fort Worth, Texas, on Feb. 17 en route to its primary test site at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The stealth fighter joined two other F-35Bs at Patuxent River following a 3-hour and 10-minute flight.

Danf.

[Xplumberlives]

I am starting to feel that we should change ours to the same model your air force has opted for!

[Air]

Even our own pilots have expressed a preference for the F35C.

Isn't the lift fan just dead weight when not in use, and also the fuel and weapons capacity are smaller on the B model because of said fan?

Given the new carriers we're supposedly having are big enough and capable of having catapults and arrester gear, it'd be good to see us with the BEST aircraft for the job, even if that means no SVTOL capability and having to retrain our pilots in the old art of trapping on a swaying deck again.

[RLN]

Why don't we invent the Harrier?

[Gully]

Why don't we invent the Harrier?

How about a supersonic version?









Doh! We cancelled it.....

Gully

[RLN]

bugger

[Pujgnie]

Harrier will always be the hallmark STOVL !!

Why can't they update the Harrier project - with weaponary/technology to compare with the Apache ? OK it may take a few years... but why scrap a state of the art icon (as is Harrier) for a totally untried/tested venture of a pig ugly looking F35, costing billions ?

[Jigsaw]

Harrier will always be the hallmark STOVL !!

Why can't they update the Harrier project - with weaponary/technology to compare with the Apache ? OK it may take a few years... but why scrap a state of the art icon (as is Harrier) for a totally untried/tested venture of a pig ugly looking F35, costing billions ?

Answer....because they can

[Pujgnie]

At this rate - and Government cut backs we will NOT have much to fight back with in forseeable future .

Red Arrows might as well be renamed as the synchronized RAF Strafing Sqn - in that case

[Air]

Harrier will always be the hallmark STOVL !!

Why can't they update the Harrier project - with weaponary/technology to compare with the Apache ? OK it may take a few years... but why scrap a state of the art icon (as is Harrier) for a totally untried/tested venture of a pig ugly looking F35, costing billions ?

We don't have an aviation industry anymore, and don't forget the 'stealth' buzzword.

We should go with F35C. Cheaper, longer range and more capable than the crap VSTOL version that we're supposedly getting.

[Delhud]

We had something like this
years ago--it was called the P1154
scrapped as normal to please "the cousins "
will we ever learn

Delhud

[Air]

We had something like this
years ago--it was called the P1154
scrapped as normal to please "the cousins "
will we ever learn

Delhud

Trouble is we're not even capable of producing our own aircraft anymore. If we do then it's always a Euro partnership which inevitably leads to massive delays and red tape, aka The Typhoon.

Say what you like about the French, but at least they still had the balls to go it alone with the Rafale and produce one that could fly from their carrier.

Could you ever see Britain doing that now? Sadly no!